BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SANS Institute today announced that in its recent survey of 488 IT professionals, an ongoing shortage of skills in application security is severely hampering the implementation of effective Appsec programs.

"One thing that stands out this year is the increase in number of organizations with a formal application security program in place. Approximately 83% of respondents (up from 66%) have an Appsec program in place, and more than 37% (up from 33%) have a program that has been operating for more than five years," says SANS Analyst Frank Kim. "This indicates that a lot of progress is being made, but it also highlights that there is much more to do."

In the survey, more than 35% of respondents test the security of their business-critical applications on an ongoing basis, up from 23% in last year's survey. And, encouragingly, only a small percentage (fewer than 3%) of respondents left application security to chance and did not test at all.

The survey found that a lack of qualified staff and lack of skills are seen as the major inhibitors to instituting Appsec programs.

"This year's survey provides valuable and surprising insights into the challenges that organizations face today in implementing a successful Appsec program," says SANS Analyst Jim Bird. "It's not only funding and getting management buy-in—there are other, more fundamental problems, including a shortage of skills, that are preventing people from taking care of security where it makes the most difference, upfront in design and development."

Results and insights surrounding application security will be released during a webcast on Wednesday, February 12, at 1 PM EST. To register for the complimentary webcast please visit: http://www.sans.org/info/150770

Those who register for these webcasts will be given access to an advanced copy of the associated report developed by Jim Bird and Frank Kim.

About SANS InstituteThe SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest source for world-class information security training and security certification in the world, offering over 50 training courses each year. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, is a certification body featuring over 27 hands-on, technical certifications in information security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system—the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community. (www.SANS.org)